The best laid plans…

There was a time when SMART Technologies simply dominated any discussion around classrooms. If you were integrating technology of any kind into a classroom – especially K-12 classrooms – you had to figure out a way to spec and install a Smart Board. Interactivewhiteboarding was not only invented, but also perfected by the two founders of Smart Technologies, Nancy Knowlton and her husband David Martin. Smart is a Canadian-based manufacturer which, at one time, had an estimated 98 percent market share of the interactive whiteboard market and has won over 30 awards since its founding in 1987. And, almost all products in the whiteboarding market are called Smart Boards (much like a tissue is called Kleenex) even though the company’s market share has slipped well below 50 percent in recent years and is continuing to fall as projector manufacturers and even mount manufacturers integrate their own versions of so-called interactive whiteboarding into products for free or cheap.

And, now, founders Knowlton and Martin have decided to step down as CEO and executive chair, respectively, of the company whose profit has shrunk ever since becoming a publicly traded company. In fact, this past February, Smart posted a 13 percent drop in income quarter to quarter to below $11 million. And, that’s not all the bad news — the stock is now hovering around $2.50 a share — after having a 52-week high of over $10 a share and making their debut on the stock market at over $16 a share in July 2010, which is a number they’d never even come close to hitting after October 2010 when the steady linear decline in stock price never stopped.

So, what’s next? Well, in leaving yesterday, Nancy left with the statement, “It is with a great deal of pride and optimism about Smart’s future opportunities in both the business market and new education markets that Dave and I are preparing to leave the company in the capable hands of the management team and dedicated staff at all levels.”

We can only hope. First off, going public was a BAD idea — not for the two of them of course — I am sure they have money tucked away and they’ll be fine. But it’s bad news for those who work for Smart — some 200 or more are expected to be laid off by year’s end — and for those who purchased stock in the company. Their products are good, they are popular and they work — even though I stand by my 2004 statement that in MOST cases Smart Boards just become the most expensive whiteboard ever purchased by any organization. Most don’t get used as interactive whiteboards; they get used as just plain white boards. Someone, somewhere needs to tell the new management at Smart that licensing their technology is the key to their future. Not making stuff! Stop trying to make money on the hardware and license the technology as it OBVIOUSLY is becoming commoditized. It’s the perfect plan!

Will someone reading this be kind enough to pass that along to whomever has the keys to Nancy’s old office?

Now, on to Jeremy — Burkhardt, that is. He’s the founder and now president ofSpeakerCraft — no doubt the coolest speaker company in the world. Way back in 2009 atCEDIA they launched a new product called Nirv (I was at the press conference). Nirv was supposed to be a whole home AV system with whole home automation built into it. But, it never shipped as a finished product — only as beta. And now it’s dead. No one knows how many customers or dealers have the beta version of Nirv, but we’ve been told thatSpeakerCraft is doing whatever it can to make it up to the dealers and customers who were affected by the product cancellation.

Well, well, well. I loved Nirv when I first saw it. In 2010 when the company modified the concept and decided to strip out the automation part of the product and make it only a whole home AV system, I planned on replacing my Russound CAM crap with Nirv. Now, I’m stuck with Russound’s CAM system.

Help! Can anyone out there tell me what to do?